Flat track hell comes to Holland

Holland’s Dirttrack Lelystad hosted the first ever Indian Motorcycle European Championship during the amazingly popular annual Hells Race meeting at the beginning of May. Over 150 riders raced classes including Hooligan, Vintage, Pro, Amateur, Newbie and Minibike. The program was action packed with some fantastic racing around Holland’s premier short track venue.

In the Hooligan class the racing was fast and tough on the soft light shale surface. The big bikes were hard to handle on the tight and deep short track, and rain during the afternoon made the racing really tricky. It was Gary Birtwistle who skillfully lead the final from beginning to end.

After a poor start Max Hunt managed to race to a very well deserved second place. Leah Tokelove, who raced superbly in her heats on the Indian Scout took a well-earned third place on the podium, giving the UK first, second and third positions.

The Pro Class was packed with Europe’s top dirt track riders, with a large showing from the UK, coupled with a strong field of other top riders from the Spain, Netherlands, Italy and Poland.

The heats provided really tight racing, but in the Pro final it was Spain’s Ferran Sastre who raced with superb skill to win, with Dutchman Maikel Dijkstra taking a very close second and Franc Sala (also from Spain) third giving the Spanish riders a strong presence on the podium.

The vintage Class had a massive entry with some really close racing on some of Europe’s most beautiful vintage machines. German rider Martin Huning was on fire in all his heats and won the finaI. In second place was British DTRA Race Director Anthony Brown who was very strong in all his heats. And in third place was Swiss rider Michel Colaizzi.

Although Dirt Track Racing is one of the more cost effective styles of motorcycle racing to enter, the Hooligan class rules are designed to be simple to keep costs even further down and fabrication to a minimum. Riders must use a lightly modified street bike with 750cc+ multi-cylinder engines, no front brake, and standard frame, fitted with Dunlop flat track tyres.